Arsenal are ready to remove the captaincy from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and move him on from the club for good.
That's according to rumours circulating in the aftermath of the Gunners' 3-0 home victory over Southampton, in which the Gabonese striker was absent following a disciplinary issue.
Reports broke before the game that Aubameyang would be missing due to ill discipline with Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta confirming this was the case in his pre-match interviews.
"Unfortunately [it's] due to a disciplinary breach," Arteta stated. "I think we have been very consistent that we have certain non-negotiables in the team that we have set ourselves as a club, and he's not involved today."
During the game, it came out that the forward had been allowed to travel abroad but failed to return by the allotted time to follow COVID-19 protocol.
This is not the first time that Aubameyang - who joined Arsenal for £60m in 2018 - has fallen foul of the rulebook, after missing March's North London Derby win over Tottenham for lateness. Now, reports suggest that he could have his captaincy removed.
"It's not a good example to set," Chris Sutton said on BT Sport Score. "The truth is that Arsenal are never far away from a crisis, they have lost three out of the last four."
The former Blackburn and Chelsea man agreed that he could see the captaincy being taken away - and when asked if he felt the skipper would stay, he replied, "Not while Mikel Arteta is there."
"What I do find interesting is that Arteta could have kept it quiet, in-house, but he hasn't done," Sutton continued. "He knows what's going to happen now that it's out in the public domain.
"There's clearly a rift between the two parties and something has got to give. it will be interesting how this one will be resolved."
